Neha Patil (Editor)

Felixstowe F.3

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Top speed
  
146 km/h

Length
  
15 m

First flight
  
February 1917

Wingspan
  
31 m

Introduced
  
1917

Designer
  
John Cyril Porte

Felixstowe F.3 httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Manufacturers
  
Canadian Vickers, Dick, Kerr & Co., Short Brothers, English Electric

The Felixstowe F.3 was a British First World War flying boat, successor to the Felixstowe F.2 designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air station, Felixstowe.

Contents

Design and development

In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F.3 was flown. This was a larger and heavier development of the Felixstowe F.2A, powered by two 320 hp (239 kW) Sunbeam Cossack engines. Large orders followed, with the production aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Eagles. The F.3s larger size gave it greater range and heavier bomb load than the F2, but poorer speed and agility. Approximately 100 Felixstowe F.3s were produced before the end of the war, including 18 built at Malta Dockyard.

Operational history

The larger F.3, which was less popular with its crews than the more maneuverable F.2A, served in the Mediterranean as well as the North Sea.

In 1920, the Canadian Air Board sponsored a project to conduct the first ever Trans-Canada flight to determine the feasibility of such flights for future air mail and passenger service. The leg from Rivière du Loup to Winnipeg was flown by Lieutenant Colonel Leckie and Major Hobbs in a Felixstowe F.3.

On the 22 March 1921, a Felixtowe F.3 flying boat of the Portuguese Naval Aviation - crewed by the naval aviators Sacadura Cabral and Ortins de Bettencourt, naval navigator Gago Coutinho and aviation mechanic Roger Soubiran - performed the first flight between Mainland Portugal and Madeira.

Operators

 Australia
  • Tasmania - two for commercial use carrying 6 passengers or a ton (2,240 lb) of freight
    •  Canada
  • Canadian Air Board
    •  Portugal
  • Portuguese Navy
    •  Spain
  • Spanish Navy
  • Spanish seaplane carrier Dédalo - three carried
    •  United Kingdom
  • Royal Naval Air Service
  • Royal Air Force
  • No. 232 Squadron RAF
  • No. 234 Squadron RAF
  • No. 238 Squadron RAF
  • No. 249 Squadron RAF
  • No. 261 Squadron RAF
  • No. 263 Squadron RAF
  • No. 265 Squadron RAF
  • No. 267 Squadron RAF
  • No. 269 Squadron RAF
  • No. 270 Squadron RAF
  • No. 271 Squadron RAF
    •  United States
  • United States Navy

    • Specifications (F.3)

    Data from British Naval Aircraft since 1912

    General characteristics

  • Crew: four
  • Length: 49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
  • Wingspan: 102 ft (31.09 m)
  • Height: 18 ft 8 in (5.69 m)
  • Wing area: 1,432 ft² (133.03 m²)
  • Empty weight: 7,958 lb (3,610 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 12,235 lb (5,550 kg)
  • Powerplant: two × Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII V12 inline piston, 345 hp (257 kW) each

    • Performance

  • Maximum speed: 91 mph (79 knots, 147 km/h) at 2,000 ft (610 m)
  • Service ceiling: 8,000 ft (2,438 m)
  • Wing loading: 8.54 lb/ft² (41.8 kg/m²)
  • Power/mass: 0.056 hp/lb (0.092 kW/kg)
  • Endurance: Six hours
  • Climb to 2,000 ft (610 m): 5 min 15 s
  • Climb to 6,500 ft (1,980 m): 24 min

    • Armament

  • Guns: 4 × Lewis guns (one in the nose, three amidships)
  • Bombs: Up to 920 lb (418 kg) of bombs beneath wings

    • References

    Felixstowe F.3 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA